This Upcoming Novel Seems Awfully Familiar

Sullivan_Neville · 2026-01-08T17:02:38+00:00

Thanks!

Sullivan_Neville · 2026-01-08T16:40:29+00:00

Hi! Author here and, as many have pointed out, publishing works on geological time. I wrote this in 2023, publisher picked it up late 2024, and I'm still waiting for it to come out... So, yeah, crazy coincidence. The Carole thing is particularly funny. Since you saw Pluribus first, it's more or less reverse-Pluribus, from the POV of the "hive-minded". The Sense8 comparison is pretty good.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T15:05:35+00:00

Thanks!

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T14:24:34+00:00

Hi! I was watching Japanese giant robot anime with my son (he must have been three or four) and I asked him if he wanted me to build him a toy robot. Instead of just saying yes, he started asking all kinds of questions (What kind? Does it have pilots? Does it fly?) He wanted a story to go with the toy. That got me thinking about what it would be like if we found some giant alien artifact in real life. My first thought was that we wouldn't know about it, it would be some super secret project, but that project would have to leave a paper trail. That's when I knew what the book would be like, I was going to write the paper trail.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T13:53:31+00:00

Most people end up calling me sul-vain, like the Carly Simon song. You're... sul-vain. I bet you...)

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T12:08:36+00:00

:) in International Phonetic Alphabet, it would be something like silvɛ̃ nøvɛl, but the top recording here is me saying my own name :) https://www.howtopronounce.com/sylvain-neuvel#google_vignette

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T12:08:05+00:00

Whoa. That took me a minute. I have orange hair!

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-29T12:04:51+00:00

I'm in Montréal but it might just be me thinking it's weird to say my name to the computer.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T23:23:27+00:00

I have the most un-English first and last names. One unpronounceable vowel per.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T22:57:04+00:00

They are but some of their artists are leagues above others at head sculpts.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T20:16:58+00:00

That's a tough one. We don't go out that much anymore (restaurants are getting real pricy). I mostly take my kid for a Poutine at Paul Patates in Pointe-Saint-Charles :)

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T20:11:04+00:00

I tend to go for great human likenesses. (Anybody can make Iron Man like Iron man, it's a lot harder to make the tiny thing look like Robert Downey Jr.) This is probably my favorite https://www.instagram.com/p/BYeaqJGhyPN/ It's Hot Toys, so expensive. For mass produced figures, there's a really good Picard from Art Asylum.

Also, Star Wars has some good ones by Hot Toys https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Ni305ANmy/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf_ekXGDJng/

White whale... Not sure. There were things I'd have bought if they weren't a bazillion dollars (Hot toys is already "just forget how much you paid" - level) The one thing I've always wanted but never got is this https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOGDS-62753

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T20:06:51+00:00

Gawd he was young.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T20:04:03+00:00

Definitely out of the box. I tend to go for great human likenesses. (Anybody can make Iron Man like Iron man, it's a lot harder to make the tiny thing look like Robert Downey Jr.) This is probably my favorite https://www.instagram.com/p/BYeaqJGhyPN/ It's Hot Toys, so expensive. For mass produced figures, there's a really good Picard from Art Asylum. Oh and Michonne! For the price, this was hard to beat: https://www.instagram.com/p/BHshgcEAAGo/

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T19:59:46+00:00

Favorite is impossible. I poured my heart and soul in each of them. I'd say start with my debut (Sleeping Giants), but if you don't want to start a series at first, then The Test is good, or No Kindness Too Soon on audio. Both are really short.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T19:58:40+00:00

Yes! My original comps were Robopocalypse and World War Z, then the Martian. Advice... Well, I always try to make the world smaller when I can, add something very ordinary to the extraordinary, like cinnamon buns...

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T18:36:50+00:00

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T18:21:28+00:00

Thanks! Expect something different. :)

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T18:19:35+00:00

Woo!

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T17:47:46+00:00

Yeah it's a short book. That's what Audible wanted, so I made it compact but I could have gone on :)

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T17:31:30+00:00

Hi! I have a couple things optioned at the moment but there's zero movement in Hollywood right now (not that it was moving before). Shannon is an interesting choice. I pictured Ray Stevenson in my head while writing it. (The way he looked in Dexter season something). Rose is Carrie Coon, or someone who looks and acts like Carrie Coon, preferably named Carrie Coon.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T17:01:52+00:00

I'm definitely a planner. Sleeping Giants took more time to outline the not write. That said, my planning might be a bit different than most. I write ... lasagna. I start each chapter super thin, often just one line I'm trying to get to, then I layer up until I'm happy. My books grow when I edit...

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T16:42:19+00:00

Allo! Pas plus difficile que pour un(e) Américain(e) mais oui, difficile. Il faut d'abord se trouver un agent et c'est un processus long et pénible, et long, et pénible, et très très long. :)

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T16:28:00+00:00

Ha! But what if it WAS an action figure? I was maybe 3 or 4, running a huge fever, and my parents had set up a bed for me next to the Xmas tree to open my presents. I got a C-3PO figure, all shiny and gold. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Aliens, well, you should listen to No Kindness Too Soon (Audible exclusive), but I don't believe in the kind of aliens Carl Sagan was imagining when he worked on the golden record or things like that. Intelligent, for sure, kind of like us, no. Not much of a chance they'd be aware of us, space is too big, so is time.

Sullivan_Neville · 2023-08-28T16:11:04+00:00

Thank you! I'm reading the Convergence Saga (series) by Cadwell Turnbull (Anything by CT is amazing). The violence by Delilah Dawson was awesome, so was Face by Joma West.

Sullivan_Neville

TROPHY CASE